Prologue
Today she would arrive.
I had prepared for this day. Everyone had. I had the entire institute run mock drills of every scenario that Melfina might make in her first month here. Everyone would attack her to keep the rules in place. They would try to kill her. Death would not take her away from me. I would ensure that Melfina would survive at all costs. I had gone as far as changing her roommate to be in my room with me.
The last Oracle had been her mother. A dragon. Melfina was a Half-Draconian, like Feron and I, my twin brother are. I even had my beautiful daughter playing her part as well. She was only six. But she was wise beyond her years. She would play the part of my little sister to conceal her true identity from Melfina. Her birth mother, Ezra, left me to raise her as a single father so she could pursue her dream as a repairer for the Mecha Pilots. That’s how I met her. She had been my first repairer. I resented her. But the love I had for my daughter Tandenth was far more important to me than anyone I had ever loved after her mother.
Melfina was my mate. My mother and her mother had both prepared me for what she would become to me, starting today.
My name is King Sixus Westin; I’m a third year at the Abraxis Institute of Union. I am playing my part as a prince. I’m going to toy with Melfina’s emotions to gauge her loyalty to me and all of Tellus. Working with the enemy to ensure she is the new Oracle of Tellus. I had spent my time on Erda spying on her. Nymmylth had taken Melfina after the Xenada Empire exploded by the hands of her father.
Melfina wielded the rare blue flame passed down to her by her dragon mother, Nymmylth, Lady of Fire. While Feron and I had gotten our ice powers from our dragon mother, Pyssyno, Lady of Ice. Half-Draconian were rare on Tellus. And Melfina was both Feron’s and my mate. The three of us had our fate sealed after she was born.
“Everyone is ready, sir,” Cora said. “Awaiting the arrival of Princess Melfina Aeon Dra.”
“Thank you, Cora,” I nodded curtly to her. “Open the enrollment doors.”
“Yes, sir,” Cora said. “I’ll wait for the princess in the cafeteria as planned.”
I stood on the balcony as the gates were pulled open. The many new candidates from the six existing kingdoms had arrived and were filling in to meet their fate. Most of them would not survive after today.
“Cora,” I asked as she was about to leave. She was my current Repaierer. And she would be Melfina’s if she survived the Dragon Knight’s entry. Which she would. The woman was half dragon after all. We dragons don’t like being told what to do. “Please take Tandenth to the Dragon Sanctuary for me.”
“Yes, sir,” Cora said as Tandenth walked over to her and took her hand in hers. “Let’s go, sweetie.”
“Okay, Cora,” Tandenth said, looking at me as they headed for the door. “I can’t wait to meet my new mommy daddy.”
“Me too,” I said, smiling warmly at my beautiful little girl. She had my piercing blue eyes. “Mel is going to love you, Tande.”
“I know,” she giggled as she shifted into her tiny pink dragon form and leapt into Cora’s arms. “I’ve had dreams about Melfina daddy.”
The doors slid open, and Cora exited my dorm room. After they closed, I stared down at the three growing lines beneath my balcony. Melfina’s scent struck me before I even saw her. She had dyed her hair teal color. She stood out among the others. Keeping her head low as she watched everyone enter the gates.
I smiled as I turned and headed for the door. After they slid open, I stepped out into the hallway. I had rigged the floor, ensuring she would come to me from the Mecha Pilot dorms. She didn’t know it yet. But she was going to become both a Mecha Pilot, a Dragon Knight, and the Oracle of Tellus.
I made my way down the hallway and down to the Pit. I stationed a small desk and chair by the entrance, and the plastic slide she would come down from to meet me. My mate was back on Tellus.
And the dragon in me was restless without my mate by my side for the few years we have been apart. It was another reason I had to keep going to Erda. I had to see her to keep us both alive. For now, Mel thought she was nothing more than an ordinary human. By the end of her inaugural year, ... she would find out that she is so much more than that.
I had distracted myself by being on my cell I had acquired from Erda, by watching videos on the Trendify app. And that’s when I heard her sliding down the plastic slide.
It was go time.
And this year was going to be chaotic.
